NAB Perspectives: JVC Camcorder Integrates Sports Graphics

JVC’s GY-HM200SP made its debut last week at NAB 2016 and could arguably be the most “sports-centric” camera ever to hit the market: it can overlay score, team names, game clock, and even team logos without the need for an external switcher or character generator.

“The original concept was two-fold,” says Ian Scott, VP, Professional Video Division, JVC Kenwood. “It’s for the high school or college that wants to stream content to viewers whose expectation is an ESPN-like level of production. And often schools don’t run out of equipment but rather people to do the production.”

A touchscreen interface for a new JVC camera allows a camera operator to directly input scoring information into the camera signal prior to its being streamed out to viewers.

Despite being loaded with advanced professional features for extensive customization, the camera’s Full Auto Mode, along with one-button streaming makes it easy for an untrained operator to use. It’s a complete sports-production system contained in a compact, affordable camcorder package. The score overlays can be controlled by the camera operator, who can change things like the look and layout and control the scoring, down and distance, or timeouts left. The system can also be tied into the scoreboard system so that time remaining and quickly changing scores can be automated.

Overlays are currently available for soccer, field hockey, or rugby; versions for basketball and baseball will be available soon. It is also possible to customize overlays for volleyball, football, rowing, and more. JVC’s team can also design custom overlays for a nominal fee, and, eventually, the software will be provided to the user so they can address their own specific needs.

“Basketball moves fast,” Scott notes, “and you can have a third-party change the score or have data come into the camera from Sportcast for hands-free operation.”

JVC also has improved its relationship with coaching-technology provider XOS: the new JVC-HM650SC camera can seamlessly interface with the Thunder HD coaching-video software platform. Also incorporated, a simple user interface allows sports videographers to tag video directly from the camera.

For example, a coaching staff may see that a player is performing at 80% of optimum level during practice and needs to be rested. But finding the video related to that drop in performance can be difficult because the timecode can drift by five or 10 seconds during the course of a practice. Combining the tagging functionality with 4G LTE or WiFi technology, JVC has been able to significantly reduce the time it takes to ingest game and practice film into the XOS Thunder and ThunderCloud sports-video platforms.

“The GPS antenna takes the time of day and accurately embeds it as timecode and then links it with biometric data so that the right clip can be pulled up from the Thunder HD server,” says Scott.

There is also an interface for tagging plays by categories and even to easily mark non-plays so that those events can be easily dumped out of the record bin.

Notes Scott, “It’s a no-brainer and saves so much time for the coaching staff.”